The Jawaiian is weighing in on the accusations Ilia Topuria has made against current UFC Lightweight Champion, Justin Gaethje.
In a social media post this week Topuria not only announced that he has been cleared to return to the octagon but he accused Gaethje of cheating during their UFC Freedom 250 fight.
“To all the clowns who’ve been talking s–t and counting me out this whole time, here I am. Now let’s see who’s got the balls. Thanks to everyone for the support. Next time I’ll make sure they check Justin’s gloves so he doesn’t put anything weird on them. See you soon,” he wrote.
Final medical tests done. I’m back. To all the clowns who’ve been talking shit and counting me out this whole time, here I am. Now let’s see who’s got the balls. Thanks to everyone for the support. Next time I’ll make sure they check Justin’s gloves so he doesn’t put anything…
— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) September 16, 2026
Gaethje responded with: “94 days and the best you could come up with is a lame excuse. As terrible as your last performance. Do better kid.”
94 days and the best you could come up with is a lame excuse. As terrible as your last performance. Do better kid.
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) September 16, 2026
Former UFC fighter turned trainer and Big Brother 28 houseguest Kamuela Kirk has added his perspective to the public debate and he doesn’t put much stock in such accusations.
“It’s incredibly unlikely, man. It’s incredibly unlikely. I actually wish that Topuria never made any kind of comment like that because now it almost makes it seem like he’s making excuses. Like, oh, the reason why he lost was because of the gloves. I think it would have been better if he would have just got back into the gym, started training and shifted his focus onto the next fight. I think that would have been a better look for him.” Kirk told Slam.
Kirk said what happened reminded him of Alex Pereira discussing why he lost to Israel Adesanya.
“He started talking about the reason why he lost to Adesanya was because some of those strikes were to the back of the head. I didn’t think that was the best look. I definitely think that if there were any strikes to the back of the head—and there were a couple—they were accidental. There are scrambles in which people turn away and you’re throwing strikes. Sometimes they are the reason why they got hit in the back of the head because they turn away when an elbow or a punch is coming down and they expose the back of their head then they get hit. I remember just thinking, like, ah, man, like Alex… I love Alex. Yeah, I like Ilia too. I just think it’s a bad look,” he said.
Kirk stressed again that it is very doubtful Gaethje would have gotten away with anything illegal.
“Nothing happened with Gaethje’s gloves, especially in the UFC. They’re extremely strict about all that kind of stuff. There’s always a commissioner with you watching your hand wraps, watching you get your gloves on. They monitor that very closely. That’s not the reason why he lost the fight and it just makes it look like he’s making excuses,” he said.
UFC officials have not expressed any concern or released any findings about the gloves Gaethje gloves wore, used that night. In that fight, Gaethje defeated Topuria to become the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion.
The finale of Big Brother 28 airs on Thursday, October 1st.
